Thank you for visiting our forum. As a guest, you have limited access to view some discussion and articles. By joining our free community, you will be able to view all discussions and articles, post your own topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload photos, participate in Pick'Em contests and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today!!

Thing was, we were done with this kid....the Gamecock fanbase was done, that is. This thread was dead and locked back in August, and very little discussion elsewhere regarding him. Then it started everything back up again in December. Now it's all the same crap again, about him and his HS HC etc. etc. Wish the thread would get locked back up again, so it can all be dead again....

Nothing worse than a HS coach who puts his own ego and agenda between one of his players, and that players college career. Happens way too often. The HS coach should have 3 goals:

1- Get the kid to be a great player and student at his HS
2- Get the kid to formulate a plan for post-graduation
3- IF that includes football, then give him unbias, neutral guidance based on what the kid wants, and what the offers he gets are.

Nothing worse than a HS coach who puts his own ego and agenda between one of his players, and that players college career. Happens way too often. The HS coach should have 3 goals:

1- Get the kid to be a great player and student at his HS
2- Get the kid to formulate a plan for post-graduation
3- IF that includes football, then give him unbias, neutral guidance based on what the kid wants, and what the offers he gets are.

I think the large majority due exactly as you described. Unfortunately, there are always a few that spoil it for their players, and it's the players that lose in the long run.

Here are the combine numbers for Ace. He ran a 4.58 forty...last time I checked, that's pretty close to 4.6

Sorry. I was unclear on my "Yeah, right."

I believed the reports, but I also believe Ace is faster than he timed that day. He sure looks faster than that in games against NFL teams and against supposedly fast teams like LSU. Maybe not. Perhaps his shiftiness makes him appear faster than a 4.6.

If Scott does run a 4.6 and has the elusiveness of an Ace, I'll take that over a straight-line 4.5 all purpose back - (not a power back)

Shrine Bowl DL Poona Ford of Hilton Head shook up the recruiting world somewhat Friday when he not only revealed a decommitment from Louisville but also dropped USC from consideration. Ford had said last month he was actually considering the Gamecocks along with the Cardinals. When Charley Strong left Louisville for Texas that set the wheels in motion for where Ford is today...choosing between the Longhorns, Oregon and Missouri. So the question locally is, what happened with USC?

"That's something more for him to comment on than me to comment on," Hilton Head coach BJ Payne said Friday afternoon. "He's a #### good kid who's been put in a tough situation who is trying to make the most of it. He wanted to stay committed to Louisville. He really liked Louisville, a lot of things about Louisville. He kept hoping somebody was going to contact him from there. They haven't reached out to him. I don't think you should take officials when you are committed and I said, are you ready, and he said yeah, they've had enough time, and I'm going to decommit and totally open things back up. He and his dad and his grandma sat down two nights ago and discussed options and he came up with his list of schools he narrowed it down to and for sure where he was going to take visits and where he was interested in going."

Payne said there was lot of speculation that Ford's grandmother wanted him to go to certain places but he said that's not the case.

"Grandma wants Poona to be happy. She wants Poona to go where Poona wants to go to school. That is something I heard directly from her the other day. This is a decision an 18 year old kid is making and his family is leaving it up to him to make the decision. It's not grandma making the decision, it's not dad making the decision and it #### sure isn't me making the decision. I'm sick of hearing that I'm the reason and I'm pushing this kid out of the state and I'm doing this and I'm doing that. Well, your dad played at Clemson. Listen, my dad played at Clemson when Frank Howard was there in 1965. I don't think I own a Clemson shirt or hat. But that's been the speculation out there that his coach is pushing him away. I don't do that. My job is to help our kids and help them get recruited and give them as many options as they can. It's been extremely frustrating from my point of view that I'm getting blamed for all of this."

Payne said he took Ford to USC for visits three times but as it turns out, Ford just doesn't want to stay in state.

"I can say this, Everette Sands has done an incredible job recruiting the kid. The kid just doesn't want to go to South Carolina. There's nothing that happened. I do know the kid thought certain family members wanted him to stay close, and when he found out that wasn't the case.....does that make sense? That's what changed the whole thing. There was some misunderstanding within the family. It was openly said, we want you to go where you are happy. I don't care if it's on the other side of the world. You go where you are happy. If the kid came up to me today and say he wanted to be a Gamecock, I'd be happy as #### for the kid. He just doesn't feel it's the right fit for him. It's nothing against South Carolina or the staff. The kid has just made another decision. I want the kid to go play college football and get an education for free. No matter where he goes."

Us " Folks" are just fine thank you. I believe we will end up with a great class this year and 2015 is already looking good! Plus we went 11-2 with youngest team n the country. I look at all our commits for this class and ones we still have a great shot at and I do not see any of them I am not happy with and I think the coaches agree since they recruited them.

Sad situation that a talented player was stuck with a coach like that. That coach reeks of insincerity, sounds like some serious ego there on and I do not believe much of anything he says. And yet, kids trust their coaches, they almost have to.